Here are the dark ambient albums that we at This is Darkness have been listening to recently – some are new releases, but a few are older gems we’ve just (re)discovered.
Please check these out by clicking on the Bandcamp link next to each review, and please consider supporting the featured artists.
Enjoy!
If you have a Bandcamp release you’d like to be considered for inclusion as one of our picks of the month , please email [email protected]. Bandcamp download codes for albums to be reviewed are always very welcome, but are not essential.
Kazuya Nagaya – Lumina
Wow. Every now and then an album comes along that just blows you away, and Lumina by Kazuya Nagaya is one of those albums. This is an album of beautiful, melancholic, heart-felt music that provides a listening experience that is almost spiritual. Soft tones, gentle vocal sounds, stringed instruments, and meditative ambient soundscapes all working perfectly together to create something very special indeed. If you are looking for an album to soothe your soul or to listen to during a spot of introspection then I highly recommend this album. Beautiful!
Substak – Structural Shifts
Athens based musician Substak returns with another incredible release, Structural Shifts, a twenty-minute track “…based on a field recording where rain drops, birds and thunders take place. Its a transition from order to chaos…“. The music here, is a delightful slow mutating, evolving soundscape of flowing audio textures and tones, providing a dreamy primal listening experience. Fans of drone and experimental ambient sounds will love this. Stunning!
Substak + Slow Function – System Meltdown / Open Process
Featuring two tracks – one from Substak and one from Slow Function – this is an intriguing split tape between two artists each impressive in their own right. Both tracks feature electromagnetic signals, glitches, and tones, but each offer something different – System Meltdown is a relatively subtle piece, with a slow unfolding electroacoustic sound that is as hypnotic as it is minimalistic, and Open Process is noisier, harsher and more in your face. The contrast between the two tracks works perfectly, and the resulting audio journey is a thoroughly rewarding one. Fantastic!
Kemlo and the Zones of Silence – Mechanatones
Mechanatones is the latest release from Kemlo and the Zones of Silence. Featuring experimental electronic sounds, evolving drones, and catchy synth work, this is an impressive album that is impossible to pigeon-hole – and yet retains a ingle vibe running right through it. With a multi-textured sounds and a great use of field recordings, there is something new to discover on each and every listen. Gorgeous!
Andrea Guerrini – Mondi
New from Italian musician Andrea Guerrini is Mondi, an album of wonderful dark ambient / drone that expertly combines noise, deconstructed loops, subtle synth work, and field recordings to create evocative otherworldly soundscapes. This is music to lose yourself in, for listening to on headphones in a darkened room while the music carries you away to… elsewhere. Very highly recommended for fans of ambient / drone. Wonderful!
Tio pedro – El Silencio del Pastor
The latest release from Tio pedro is El Silencio del Pastor, an album of dark ambient / experimental electronica, featuring sombre drones, distorted glitches, and strange ghostly vocals. The end result is an album that is is gloomy, disturbing, and rather unsettling. It’s brilliantly done, and I’ve had this on repeat play since I first heard it. Definitely one to check out if you are a fan of dark, eerie ambient / drone. Awesome!
Purrgatory – Purrgatory
Purrgatory is the debut album from Brazilian musician Purrgatory. Combining elements of dark ambient, dungeon synth, and black metal, this is one of those releases that is impossible to classify as a particular genre – and that’s no bad thing. The music here is dark, brooding, and melancholic – as the album description says “Its tracks evoke empty landscapes, dead trees, forgotten tombs, and the feeling of remaining suspended between worlds…“. Impressive!
Adjective – Dark Son Rising
Dark Son Rising is the new release from Adjective (Ronan Killgannon and Olik Nesnah) – a 7 track album that effortlessly combines elements of post industrial, dark ambient, noise and black metal. The end result is an incredibly atmospheric album that takes the listener on an audio journey to a dark, despair filled otherworldly domain. Highly recommended for fans of atmospheric dark ambient. Stunning!
Insectarium – Irrwisch
I’m a huge fan of Insectarium – each and every release providing high quality music influenced by ambient, drone, world, & ritual music. Irrwisch is no exception, with slow unfolding drones and an undercurrent of darkness and sorrow that is as unsettling as it is impressive. I’ve had this on repeat play since I first heard it and find myself getting lost in the dep dark depths of the music each and every time. Beautiful!
Bipolar Explorer – Last Lights
Combining elements of dark ambient, drone, shoegaze, and post-rock, Bipolar Explorer are doing something wonderfully different. Last Lights is one of those remarkable albums that almost impossible to describe – its guitar based ambient / shoegaze sound providing a truly unique listening experience. Fans of music that does something different will absolutely love this, and with 26 tracks to listen to you’ll be in audio paradise for a long time. Gorgeous!
Noctilucant – Trinity
New on the ever impressive Befalling Silence Productions label is Trinity by Noctilucant – an impressive collection of three EPs, ‘Buried Alive in Mud,’ ‘Neath the Cerulean Abyss,’ and ‘There’s Blood On Our Hands,’ along with additional songs from the same period (2016-2017). All of the tracks have been re-mixed and re-mastered, and at over two hours in length, there is more than enough first class dark ambient / drone here to keep you entertained for a long time to come. Awesome!
Jonas Bonnetta and Stefan Christoff – All in the Dawn
New on the okla records label is All in the Dawn by Jonas Bonnetta and Stefan Christoff. This is a delightful album of gentle ambient / drone, with beautiful piano and synth work subtly complimented by field recordings. It’s incredibly well done, and I’ve found myself drawn back to the soft and delicate tones again and again – desperate to lose myself in this remarkable soundscape. Wonderful!
MASAIDEN – YŪRA
New from the ever awesome Eighth Tower Records label is YŪRA by MASAIDEN, a stunning album of post-industrial ritual ambient, featuring throat singing, dark ambient soundscapes, and shamanistic undertones – with added industrial elements and field recordings to top things off. There is a definite originality to the music here, so those looking for something a little different will absolutely love this. Fantastic!
T.Mikawa / Gensai Hasegawa – The Unstructurized Sea
Fans of noise / experimental electronic music will definitely want to check out The Unstructurized Sea by T.Mikawa / Gensai Hasegawa – right from the start this is an album that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go until it’s finished. Uncompromising, hard-hitting, aggressive and relentless… this album is all of that and more – this is not an easy listen, but that’s kind of the point. Amazing!
Wooded Memory – Escape to Phantasy
Wooded Memory‘s latest release is Escape to Phantasy – a gorgeous dark ambient / dungeon synth album featuring charming synth work, gentle evolving ambient soundscapes, and a wonderful feeling of calmness running right through it all. If you’re looking for something with a positive, comforting listen then I highly recommend this album. Lovely!
Dimensional Bleed – try to forget / try to remember
New from Italian musician Dimensional Bleed is try to forget / try to remember – a melancholic, haunting audio journey “…through rooms of memory left closed for too long…” This is one of those that needs to be listened to on headphones in a darkened room, with a storm blowing outside. This is atmospheric dark ambient at its best. Incredible!
Helen Svoboda – Headwater
Helen Svoboda is a Finnish/Australian double bassist, vocalist and composer, and though her new album isn’t strictly speaking dark ambient, Headwater has a deliciously dark ambiance that will appeal to fans of the genre. It’s not an exaggeration to say that I was blown away by this album the first time I heard it – the combination of double bass, vocals, and added electronics working together to create something jaw-droppingly good. Phenomenal!
Val Acton Loper – GUILT IN SUSTAINED HAPPINESS
Featuring haunting field recordings, feedback, drone, and looping ambient soundscapes, GUILT IN SUSTAINED HAPPINESS sounds like the audio soundtrack to a strange hallucinatory nightmare. This is impossible to classify – but those who enjoy drone and dark, disturbing music will love this. On the strength of this awesome release, I will definitely be keeping an eye out to see what Val Acton Loper does next. Superb!
d’ARC – WAYSIDE²
WAYSIDE² by Dublin based musician d’ARC, is an impressive release which contains elements of dark ambient, drone, electronica, and black metal. The end result is an audio journey that is as exhilarating and rewarding to listen to as it is surprising. In this day and age of manufactured music, it’s fantastic to know that there are still musicians out there who aren’t afraid to push the boundaries and experiment. Brilliant!
Andrew Wood – RadgePacketRemorse
New from Andrew Wood comes RadgePacketRemorse – a haunting and unsettling album exploring place and memory. Slow evolving drones, glitches, and broken audio fragments are skilfully combined with field recordings and eerie, distorted vocals, to create an album that provides an audio journey of discovery that is as rewarding as it unnerving. Exceptional!
Sophia Space Agency – The Turning Blue
Sophia Space Agency is the experimental dark ambient project of London-based sound artist Melpomeni Kermanidou, and The Turning Blue is their impressive debut album. With elements of dark ambient, drone, neo-classical music, all working together beautifully along with Kermanidou‘s wonderful ethereal vocals, this is a release that is simply gorgeous from start to finish. Very highly recommended. Spectacular!
M.B – M.U.U.N.H. 31.04.1982
M.U.U.N.H. 31.04.1982 by M.B is a ghostly mesmerising album that was recorded back in 1982 by Italian musician Maurizio Bianchi. Now, carefully remastered by Raffaele Pezzella, this remarkable album of experimental drone ambient is available to a wider audience. Using electronics, primitive synthesis, and tape manipulation, the music is eerie, repetitive, at times hypnotic. A must have for fans of experimental music or ambient drone. Incredible!
Lady of the Candles – Voices of the Entombed
Now this is very cool. A dark ambient project that is “…a conceptual dark ambient album exploring the silence that follows death and the invisible presence of those who remain beneath the earth.” It’s wonderfully done, with deep dark textures and multi-layered drone and dark ambient soundscapes working together to produce something very special indeed. Awesome!
Luca Scardovelli – Boring Music for Busy Minds (Strandscape Stories)
Wow. The new album from Italian musician Luca Scardovelli made an immediate impact on me – its gorgeous guitar based jazz / ambient giving me genuine goosebumps on its first play. Intended to “… renounce the search for immediate impact, embracing instead space, breath, and the time required for music to gradually reveal itself…” Boring Music for Busy Minds is one of those albums that keeps pulling you back for ‘just one more listen’, with something new to discover with each listen. Recommended for fans of guitar based ambient. Delightful!
Spinnet – Pyrocene
Greek producer Spinnet has created a real treat with his latest release, Pyrocene – expertly combining elements of ambient music, tribal techno and broken beats to create a deliciously dark and ominous journey of musical excellence. Fans of dark ambient with electronica influences will really enjoy this, as will anyone looking for something original and different from the standard dark ambient fare. Fantastic!
